Hakob Avetyan Responds to Incident in Kut and Panic Among the People

A greater sense of panic has emerged among the people. They are thinking that cattle should not be let out to graze. This was stated by Geghamasar community head Hakob Avetyan during a conversation with Factinfo, referring to the incident that occurred in Kut yesterday.

Avetyan provided details on how the event transpired: “The shepherd had taken the cattle to graze in our area. It is indeed a close distance to the border, as there are not many pastures within the village, but they were in our territory. At that moment, Azerbaijanis fired shots in the direction of the cattle and the shepherd. The shepherd was on horseback when shots were fired at him, hitting the horse's front leg, which broke. The shepherd got off the horse and fled, while the Azerbaijanis continued firing at the cattle, causing them to scatter in panic, with some ending up near the enemy,” said Avetyan.

He mentioned that he went up to the positions today and saw everything on-site. According to him, there were about 180 cows in the herd, of which approximately 100 returned. One cow was shot and lies in an area controlled by Azerbaijanis.

“There are 81 cows that didn’t return. Our soldiers also saw that the Azerbaijanis drove the cows ahead. When I ascended to the border today, I saw that one cow was returning. I clearly saw that three Turks were trying to cut it off, but the cow escaped and returned to the village. It turns out that there are 80 cows with them. These represent the livestock of 4-5 families, 34 from one, 19 from another, and so on,” the community head noted.

He added that Armenian soldiers also intervened in yesterday’s incident, risking their lives under fire to try and bring back some of the livestock.

The main source of income for the residents in Kut is livestock farming, and after this incident, the panic has only increased among the people. According to Avetyan, people are now thinking they should not send cattle out to graze at all: “If they don’t let them out, they can’t keep them at home. These issues create significant complications in our area. I have established contact with our security forces, and we are now waiting. They are negotiating to bring them back, but I don’t know how successful we will be,” Avetyan said.

Despite there being no shots fired by the enemy today, Avetyan does not rule out the possibility that this phenomenon could continue. Aside from security concerns, there is also a financial aspect to consider: “For a person who has lost 34 cows, that amounts to about $30,000, with each cow worth $800-900. Everyone is under debt, facing problems. People are living in poor conditions; it’s not that livestock farming brings in substantial income. Even those residents may face challenges in going to the hospital, but they hesitate to sell a cow to afford a hospital visit, and now find themselves in this predicament,” Avetyan concluded.